Efforts To Boost Foster Care In Northern Berkshire Have Been A Success But Need Is Still Great

12:00AM / Wednesday, April 04, 2001Print Story | Email Story

Local groups are planning to host a brunch/panel discussion about the need for foster care in Northern Berkshire on Sunday, April 29, at 11:30 a.m. at the First Methodist Church in Williamstown. In an effort to increase community awareness of the critical need for foster care and adoption in our area, the Department of Social Services (DSS), the Northern Berkshire Clergy Association, and the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition (NBCC) are working together in the second year of this cooperative effort. On the 29th, various houses of worship will participate in a special litany, and the brunch/panel discussion is timed so that people can attend it after they attend their particular worship service. Results from the first year of the effort have been quite noticeable. According to a statement from the Foster Care Task Force, â€œCommunity awareness of the need and participation in helping to ease the pain of children and families in our communities increased considerably this year. â€œWe saw an increase in foster homes. More people from the area have taken training to become foster and adoptive parents.â€ Specifically, in the past six months, DSS has received about 50 calls requesting information about becoming a foster parent. During a 10-week foster home training that concluded in early November, nine North County families completed the training and are eligible to receive children in their care. The next training will begin in North Adams on March 1. By spring, 15 new families will be ready to serve Northern Berkshire children. â€œHaving families from North Berkshire County come forward to be foster parents...keeps the children in their school system, keeps them with a pediatrician, close to visit with their families,â€ said Patricia Palumbo of DSS. In all, according to the Task Force, more than 20 children have been able to stay in their own communities, attend their own schools, see their own doctors, and play with their own friends because they could be accommodated within the Northern Berkshires. Palumbo and others took part of a planning meeting of the Foster Care Task Force April 2. Those present attributed this heightened awareness and volunteerism to efforts which included a panel discussion last May, which was written about in The Advocate and shown several times on local public access cable television. Other efforts, which are being repeated this year, included information made available to houses of worship about adoption for inclusion in bulletins and sermons during March and April, prayers for specific children in need, and the collection of items in â€œwelcome bagsâ€ that children entering foster care need. Last May, the U.S. Postal Service issued a special stamp honoring adoption. Local post office departments had a special unveiling of the stamp at a ceremony which honored Northern Berkshire adoptive families. According to the Task Force, during the season of Lent in 2000, area congregations prayed each week for a particular child in need of foster care. Some of the results were: Martin found an adoptive home. Joselyn, who suffered from serious parental abuse as an infant, is becoming more stable in foster care. Tyler, who was in a crisis situation in a hospital setting, is becoming more stable in foster care. Tiffany has joined her sister in a stable foster home. Nicole, an acting-out adolescent, has stabilized in foster care and is regularly attending school. Walter, a teenager, was adopted in February of this year. Alexandra and her sister had their adoptions finalized and are together in the same house. â€œRemarkably enough, a number of those children found foster homes where it ended up being a very good experience for them,â€ Palumbo said. â€œAlso, family or relatives have come forward for some of the other kids and they now are in permanent homes, in adoptive homes,â€ she said. â€œKids who have been seriously injured were healing and making good progress.â€ Is this a result of the various congregations praying? â€œHard to tell on whether or not it was,â€ Palumbo said. â€œBut, you know, I think that if an entire congregation lifts up in prayer a child, it canâ€™t hurt.â€ â€œI think it has made a difference in the lives of these children. Kids have been able to be joined with other siblings. Children have been able to return home to birth families,â€ she said. â€œItâ€™s been a good thing. Also, it just again brings out awareness to everyone about the need for foster care, and makes all of us just a little bit more sensitive to kids in care, whether itâ€™s in their school system, or in their neighborhood.â€ Kathy Keeser of the NBCC said this year that four groups of churches were each given the names of six children to lift up in prayer, about children 24 in all. This has been done by different churches in different ways and began during the first Sunday of Lent. The first names used have been changed for confidentiality, Palumbo noted. Despite the success of efforts in the past year, the need for foster and adoptive families is still great. â€œThe need is great. And weâ€™re trying not to have homes where thereâ€™s going to be three or four children,â€ Palumbo said. â€œWe want homes â€” because the children are very needy and also respond better and require more attention â€” [with] families that are just interested in taking one child.â€ Volunteer opportunities vary. These include serving as foster parents to provide a safe and loving home for children of all ages; providing a â€œhotline homeâ€ for emergency care (overnight or weekend) for children of all ages; or providing a â€œrespite homeâ€ which is to care for a child for up to ten days to give a foster family a break. Adoptive parents make a long-term commitment to provide a child with a safe, stable, loving home and family. According to information from DSS, all prospective foster parents are required to take an innovative, ten-week pre-service training program given by DSS. Foster parents learn to work as part of a team. They are not left alone to contend with this big job. DSS is there to help make the experience a successful one for you and your child. For more information or just to express interest, the Berkshire County Department of Social Services can be reached at 236-1800. Kathy Keeser of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition can be reached at 663-7588.

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McCann Recognizes Superintendent Award Recipient

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:32PM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Landon LeClair and Superintendent James Brosnan with Landon's parents Eric and Susan LeClair, who is a teacher at McCann.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Superintendent's Award has been presented to Landon LeClair, a senior in McCann Technical School's advanced manufacturing course.

The presentation was made last Thursday by Superintendent Jame Brosnan after Principal Justin Kratz read from teachers' letters extolling LeClair's school work, leadership and dedication.

"He's become somewhat legendary at the Fall State Leadership Conference for trying to be a leader at his dinner table, getting an entire plate of cookies for him and all his friends," read Kratz to chuckles from the School Committee. "Landon was always a dedicated student and a quiet leader who cared about mastering the content."

LeClair was also recognized for his participation on the school's golf team and for mentoring younger teammates.

"Landon jumped in tutoring the student so thoroughly that the freshman was able to demonstrate proficiency on an assessment despite the missed class time for golf matches," read Kratz.

The principal noted that the school also received feedback from LeClair's co-op employer, who rated him with all fours.

"This week, we sent Landon to our other machine shop to help load and run parts in the CNC mill," his employer wrote to the school. LeClair was so competent the supervisor advised the central shop might not get him back.

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